Loose Ends (18)

• Yesterday I spent a nice 20 minutes with a very sharp undergraduate on Radio Free Hillsdale, which aspires to bring the good sense of Hillsdale beyond the borders of that fine campus (maybe it should be called “Radio Free Michigan” or “Radio Free America”). The topic was a certain recent book that you may have heard about, and in case you haven’t you can listen to the interview below—I think it turned out pretty well:

• Meanwhile, the fallout from the failure of the House to pass the Obamacare reform bill is casting doubt on the ability of Congress to pass a more important tax reform bill. The folks at Goldman Sachs have noted what has happened to the stock prices of a basket of companies sensitive to the highest corporate tax rate (and hence the companies that would benefit most from sensible and long overdue corporate tax reform). What the chart shows is that these companies have given back all of their value from the Trump post-election rally. Not a good sign.

And despite some encouraging signs since Trump took office (such as higher consumer and small business confidence), economist Steve Hanke (one of my go-to guys on this subject) says private sector investment is still lagging badly.